Cutting The Cord. Or, going wireless.

[Tango Sierra]

I've had a SMH10 and SM10 since last fall. My android phone is paired to my Garmin 665 and the Garmin is paired to the SMH10. My Escort is plugged into the SM10 and the SM10 is paired to the SMH10.

I don't have the Zumo's XM hooked up. I'm a music lover and have a huge collection I've built over the last 55 years which I listen to every day at home or in the car but I won't listen to music on a motorcycle. I find it too distracting from the enjoyment of the ride.

I have the Escort volume at it's lowest setting but it still bursts my eardrums when going off but I can't understand my Garmin's voice commands over 20 mph and can't even hear it over 30 mph. When the phone rings I answer it but can't hear anything. Any ideas as to what the problem is?

 

[CHIA]

My wife and I purchased the smh-10 earlier this year and love it it works great for what we need. A month and a half ago I purchased the clamp kit that will allow me to use earbuds. It works great but the dongle sticking out the back (piece where you connect the earbuds) has broke and the bare wires are showing. Now the left earbud is cutting out at times. I have not been abusive to the unit at all. Seems like a bad design on Sena's part.

It's a design flaw, my riding bud had the same problem, and git it replaced with Sena, under warranty, said they were

excellent to deal with. It's not been fixed, but the mod he did, was to use electrical tape, and tape the losse dongle end

upwards, so the plug faced up, and the bend point becomes stationary due to the electrical tape holding it in place.

Scoured 100's of pics to find one that I had, to try and illustrate, this was the best crop I could find, and if you look

carefully, you will see the tape wrapped around the base, holding the plug solid and upright......it does work:

 

[ShowMeMo]

FYI, Sena is going to be adding dual Bluetooth receivers to new units early next year that will let you hear all of that stuff And have an open intercom mic with the passenger... I have the same setup as Andy and it works great, but to intercom with the wife requires a manual link...then unlink to go back to music. Probably not that needed by most folks, but I will be switching to the new system when it becomes available...

 

[AVGeek]

I too had issues with the earbud clamp. I just got two of the new design, and have started making it a habit to run the earbud cord over the front of the module (between the helmet and the module, over the top of the clamp). This lets the cord catch the wind without pulling on the jack.

 

[FJRRider08]

I'm watching this thread with great interest, I have the new chatterbox x1 slim, communication is first class and has a nice range but I still can't get away from the wires no matter how I try. I use ear buds and had to install an inline volume control because no matter how low you set the volume on the chatterbox it blows your ears out. Next was I run radar all the time, gps (550) and ipod for music, finally hooked it up through a mix-it and yes it all works but I still need a wire from the mix-it to the helmet.

 

[BikerGeek99]

I've had a SMH10 and SM10 since last fall. My android phone is paired to my Garmin 665 and the Garmin is paired to the SMH10. My Escort is plugged into the SM10 and the SM10 is paired to the SMH10.
I don't have the Zumo's XM hooked up. I'm a music lover and have a huge collection I've built over the last 55 years which I listen to every day at home or in the car but I won't listen to music on a motorcycle. I find it too distracting from the enjoyment of the ride.

I have the Escort volume at it's lowest setting but it still bursts my eardrums when going off but I can't understand my Garmin's voice commands over 20 mph and can't even hear it over 30 mph. When the phone rings I answer it but can't hear anything. Any ideas as to what the problem is?

Have you considered plugging the Zumo into the SM10? With the SM10's audio boost (tap the pairing button twice) maybe you'd be able to hear it better. But, that may make the Escort volume even worse. Just a thought...

Sooze and I are on a road trip right now. A few thoughts about our setup:

1. Battery life for the SM10 was described by Sena as being 8 hours. We discovered yesterday that they MEAN 8 hours. First thing when we get home is I'm gonna get it powered from the bike.

2. Volume from the Zumo - directions and XM - could stand to be greater. Balancing volumes - XM, directions, and intercom - is an art. First-world problem, I know... Just sayin'....

3. I REALLY like not being tethered to the bike like I was with the StarCom.

4. I have the boom mic and Sooze has the integrated mic. Seems like Snooze gets more wind noise. I changed our headsets so that intercom will be VOX. We'll see how that works tomorrow.

5. A2DP sound quality for XM is very, very good.

All in all, I'm happy with this setup. Still just need a little more fine-tuning is all.

 

[Linc]

I'm hoping that the SMH10 output will be loud enough to work without the 1W amp, since the Zumo 550 output is marginal based on the various reports I've read...

Interesting that you mention the Zumo volume thing... As I was going through the SM-10 manual (not actually READING it, of course - just ... uh ... "perusing"), I came across this little feature called "Audio Boosting:"

6.4 Audio Boosting

You can boost the audio input volume for both the AUDIO IN

Port and AUX Port of the SM10 by double tapping the Pairing

Button in the center of the SM10. This is especially helpful in

case the audio device doesn't have enough volume output.

Since sudden volume change can harm your ears, it is strongly

recommended to perform the audio boosting function only

when the music is not streaming. You may disable it by double

tapping the pairing button again.

Holy flipping bovine... you might have saved my sanity BikerGeek! I have an SM-10 sitting in its box, unloved and unused. Installed it to run my iPhone and Valentine one together and BOTH the fricking volumes were so low as to be unusable. 3 states of missing my music and nearly getting popped twice (in NY state no less where they have NO sense of humor) for rolling a little quick, I popped the SM-10 off the bars and never put it back on!

I was just about to write a WTH am I missing comment to the OP over his apparent satisfaction with his model. I will search for any updated firmware from Sena then try the volume trick! Plenty of time to play with it riding to CFO next month.

Thanks again

P.S. Is it pretty clear I NEVER "read the manuals"? If it's as important as volume boosting, it should be highlighted and perusing should be enough...